Flourless Chocolate Cake with Caramel Sauce

Knowing I wouldn’t have lots of time to prepare dessert for Easter Dinner, I whipped through my tried and true recipes for one that is easy, but looks like you slaved for hours. Aha! This cake fit the bill. It’s a rich, delicious flourless chocolate cake, with an easy caramel sauce that you drizzle over it. When Phillis Carey made this she talked about how easy it was to make. It truly is – you melt chocolate and butter, then combine with sugar, cocoa and eggs. That’s IT. Pour it into a greased and parchment bottomed springform pan and bake. Done. Then you just have to make the easy caramel sauce, which can be made up to a day ahead.

The flavor? Rich chocolate, no question. Low calorie? No, certainly not. Delicious? Oh yes. You need ice cream on the side, though, to cut the richness. And you can easily cut smaller servings to feed about 16 people if you need to. A small, very small, wedge is sufficient. We fed 9 on Easter and there were still 5 or 6 slices leftover. And I think the slices were too big for a dessert following a rich dinner.

You’ll be very happy you tried this. I’ve made this several times, always to good reviews. When it was first served to me at the cooking class, Phillis told us it’s better warm – so if you can, re-warm the cake in a 350 oven for about 10 minutes. If you have leftovers, don't refrigerate them. They'll keep at room temp for about 4 days, sealed up well.

Flourless Chocolate Cake with Caramel Sauce
Recipe By: Phillis Carey, cooking instructor
Serving Size : 10 (or up to about 16)
CHOCOLATE CAKE:
1 cup unsalted butter
8 ounces semisweet chocolate -- ScharfenBerger preferred
1 1/4 cups sugar
1 cup unsweetened cocoa powder -- sifted
6 large eggs
CARAMEL SAUCE:
1 1/2 cups sugar
1/4 cup water
1 1/2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
1 cup heavy cream -- at room temperature
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
2 T. rum or 2 tsp vanilla
1. Preheat oven to 350°. Butter a 10-inch springform pan and line bottom with parchment paper.
2. Stir butter and chocolate in a 4-quart saucepan over low heat until melted.
3. In a large bowl mix sugar and cocoa powder. Add eggs; whisk until blended. Whisk in chocolate-butter mixture and pour batter in prepared pan. Bake about 40-45 minutes, or until tester inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool cake in the pan, on a rack.
4. Caramel Sauce: Stir sugar, water and lemon juice in a heavy medium saucepan over low heat until sugar dissolves. Increase heat and boil - without stirring - until syrup is a deep amber color, about 7 minutes. Remove from heat and add the heavy cream. The mixture will bubble vigorously. Return to a low heat and stir in any bits of caramel that aren't dissolved. Add butter and run or vanilla and whisk the mixture until smooth. This can be made one day ahead.
5. Cut the cake into wedges and serve drizzled with the warm caramel sauce with a scoop of ice cream on the side. If desired, using a baking sheet, you may re-warm the wedges of cake at 350° for about 10 minutes.
Per Serving: 650 Calories; 40g Fat (52.5% calories from fat); 7g Protein; 75g Carbohydrate; 3g Dietary Fiber; 216mg Cholesterol; 59mg Sodium. Exchanges: 1/2 Grain (Starch); 1/2 Lean Meat; 0 Fruit; 0 Non-Fat Milk; 7 1/2 Fat; 4 1/2 Other Carbohydrates.
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Applesauce Spice Cake with Caramel Icing

My mother used to make a simple applesauce spice cake, so when I ran across this recipe (from Gourmet, December, 2005) it took me back to my childhood. Reminded me of coming home from school and the house would be perfumed with spices. Those apple-pie kind of spices. I don’t have my mother’s recipe, so this offered an opportunity to try a similar one. I think my mother used to add chopped apples and raisins to hers. They would be an easy addition, even to this recipe.

This is a simple cake to make, including the frosting. Once you get all the ingredients together in one place, it’s quite simple to mix up and pour into a greased springform pan to bake. Once the cake is cool, it’s frosted with an easy cooked frosting flavored with rum. The cake has a couple of teaspoons of rum in it too (you could easily use rum flavoring instead). If you go onto epicurious, you can read reviews of the cake. By and large, everyone who made it enjoyed it. A couple of cooks thought it needed more spices, and a couple of people thought the frosting was too thin, so I added a bit more powdered sugar than was called for. You pour the frosting all over the cake and let it drip down the sides.

My family went absolutely nutso over this recipe. I believe more than one piece was consumed the next day with breakfast (ah, I am guilty, your honor). It was that good. But, having read some of the reviews on epicurious, my supposition is that the frosting makes the cake. It’s not a normal frosting – but kind of a cross between a frosting and a caramel sauce. And maybe it’s the turbinado sugar too that makes such a difference too, although turbinado can be interchanged with brown sugar.

Cook’s Notes: use your own choice of spices, but what’s in the recipe gives the cake a pleasant, light spicy flavor. Add more if you like a highly spiced cake. The recipe calls for turbinado sugar (which I had), but you can substitute brown sugar. I added another tablespoon of powdered sugar to the frosting.

Applesauce Spice Cake
Recipe By: Gourmet, December 2005
Serving Size: 10
CAKE:
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon grated nutmeg -- freshly grated, if possible
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup turbinado sugar [or brown sugar]
1 stick unsalted butter -- (1/2 cup) softened
2 teaspoons light rum
1 large egg
1 cup unsweetened applesauce -- plus 1 tablespoon
ICING:
3 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 cup turbinado sugar [or brown sugar]
6 tablespoons evaporated milk -- canned
1 teaspoon light rum
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup powdered sugar
1. CAKE: Place oven rack in middle position and preheat oven to 350°F. Butter pan and set aside. Whisk together flour, baking soda, spices, and salt in a bowl.
2. Beat together sugar, butter, and rum with an electric mixer at medium-high speed until combined well, then add egg and beat until pale and fluffy, 2 to 3 minutes with a stand mixer or 5 to 6 minutes with a handheld. Reduce speed to low and add dry ingredients, mixing until combined well. Add applesauce and mix until combined well. Spread batter evenly in springform pan and bake until a wooden pick or skewer comes out clean, 25 to 30 minutes. Start testing the cake at 25 minutes so you make sure you don't overbake it.
3. Cool cake in pan on a rack 10 minutes, then remove side of pan and cool completely.
4. ICING: Melt 2 tablespoons butter in a 1 1/2- to 2-quart heavy saucepan, then add sugar and evaporated milk and simmer, stirring constantly until sugar is dissolved, about 4 minutes. Remove from heat and whisk in rum, vanilla, salt, and remaining tablespoon butter, then whisk in confectioners sugar 1 tablespoon at a time. Cool to warm, about 20 minutes, then spread over cooled cake.

Per Serving: 374 Calories; 14g Fat (33.4% calories from fat); 3g Protein; 60g Carbohydrate; 1g Dietary Fiber; 58mg Cholesterol; 226mg Sodium. Exchanges: 1 Grain (Starch); 0 Lean Meat; 0 Fruit; 0 Non-Fat Milk; 2 1/2 Fat; 2 1/2 Other Carbohydrates.

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Mace Cake

With family visiting this week, and needing to get much bigger and easier dinners on the table every night, I flipped through the to-try recipes and this cake was the perfect solution. Easy. Made in a 9x13 pan with a oh-so-easy sugar topping. No frosting needed. I probably would have passed by the recipe except for the write-up about it. From Gourmet in 2005 (April), the brief blurb about it said that it’s a family favorite of Cynthia Knauer, the mother of one of Gourmet’s cross-testers, Ian Knauer.

I really, really liked the cake. Lovely, subtle, soft flavors of the mace. I don't think I've ever made a cake or anything where the predominant flavor was mace. You know what mace is, don't you, other than just one more little jar on your spice rack? It's from a covering on nutmeg pods. They're beautiful looking, these coverings, in a kind of whorly-swirl, a kind of husk.

I read the recipe over at epicurious also, as well as the reviews of the cake. All but one person liked it a lot. One person mentioned she'd made it with some new mace she'd ordered from Penzey's. Gave me an idea, since I'm certain my little jar of mace is many years old. The cake is nearly white-white, and with the sugar/mace icing, it's still a very light-looking cake. So serve it with strawberries (recommended by the author) to give the plate some color. She also said that it never lasts very many days in her house as everybody stops by the pan and has a little slice every time they go through the kitchen. I understand. I had to laugh - our family has done the same thing, slicing off just a little bite here and there. A tiny snack.

It comes together in a jiffy. You first make an egg and sugar batter, but you beat the heck out of it until it’s really fluffy and ribbony. Meanwhile, you melt milk with a cube of butter until piping hot. After adding a flour and mace mixture to the eggs, you stir in the hot, hot milk and butter, pour that into a pan and bake, after sprinkling the top with a mixture of sugar and mace. It probably took a max of about 15 minutes to prepare the cake, and another 25 minutes to bake.

Cook’s Notes: I used half Splenda in the cake batter, all sugar in the topping. Test the cake starting at 20 minutes, and remove when the cake tester comes out clean. It needs nothing else with it, unless you want to serve with fresh strawberries and either whipped cream or ice cream.

Mace Cake
Recipe By: Cynthia Knauer, mother of one of Gourmet Magazine's cross-testers, Ian Knauer
Serving Size : 12
CAKE BATTER:
4 large eggs
2 cups sugar
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon mace
1 cup whole milk
1 stick unsalted butter -- (1/2 cup)
TOPPING:
1/3 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon mace
1. Put oven rack in middle position and preheat oven to 350°F. Butter and flour a 13- by 9-inch baking pan, knocking out excess flour.
2. Beat eggs with 2 cups sugar in a large bowl using an electric mixer at high speed until tripled in volume and thick enough to form a ribbon that takes 2 seconds to dissolve into batter when beater is lifted, 7 to 8 minutes in a stand mixer or 14 to 16 with a handheld.
3. Whisk together flour, baking powder, salt, and 1 tablespoon mace.
4. Bring milk and butter to a boil in a small heavy saucepan, then remove from heat.
5. Add flour mixture to egg mixture, stirring until just combined. Stir in hot milk mixture until combined (batter will be thin).
6. Stir together remaining 1/2 cup sugar and remaining 1/2 teaspoon mace in a small bowl.
7. Pour batter into baking pan and sprinkle evenly with mace sugar. (Sugar will form a crust as cake bakes.) Bake until pale golden and a wooden pick or skewer inserted in center comes out clean, 25 to 30 minutes.
8. Cool cake in pan on a rack until warm, at least 30 minutes. Cut into squares and serve warm or at room temperature. Cake keeps in an airtight container at room temperature 3 days.
Per Serving: 334 Calories; 10g Fat (27.6% calories from fat); 5g Protein; 56g Carbohydrate; 1g Dietary Fiber; 94mg Cholesterol; 206mg Sodium. Exchanges: 1 Grain (Starch); 1/2 Lean Meat; 0 Non-Fat Milk; 2 Fat; 2 1/2 Other Carbohydrates.

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Chocolate Grand Marnier Decadence Cake

I wish it weren’t so, but put anything in front of me with chocolate in it, and I’m a goner. About the only thing I don’t eat of the chocolate variety is candy. Unless it’s chocolate covered nuts.

The photo here looks more like a whipped cream mound with raspberries, but the chocolate cake is hidden behind the cream and berries. I was snapping photos of the food from a big dinner party we did the other night, and I didn’t take much time to compose the picture. I threw the plate in front of my fancy light and SNAP. Done. Whisked the plate to the table.

Obviously Phillis Carey, the cooking instructor who made this, likes chocolate too, as it features often in her class recipes. That’s all right by me.

This cake is not difficult – it has a minimum of ingredients (seven, by count) not including the whipped cream and raspberries served on the top, and it comes together in about 15 minutes. Just enough time for the oven to heat.

You melt the chocolate and butter together, cool it a little. The recipe calls for some instant coffee granules (espresso type). I don’t like to use caffeinated coffee in a dessert, so I made a very small amount of instant decaf espresso (no more than 2 T.). Alternately, you could use ordinary instant coffee dissolved in a tiny amount of water. An egg yolk and sugar batter is also mixed up until light, then the two batters are combined before popping into a greased springform pan. Bake. Cool. the batters are so purty when they're folded in together.

Cook’s Notes: To the whipped cream I added a little Grand Marnier. If you choose, garnish the chocolate wedges with raspberries on the side. This cake keeps at room temp for about a day. Once refrigerated the cake hardens up some, so if you do keep it longer, bring it to room temp before serving the leftovers. The recipe says it serves 10, but if you needed to spread it to serve 14 or so, it can be done.

Chocolate Grand Marnier Decadence Cake
Recipe By: Phillis Carey cooking class
Serving Size : 10-14
1 pound semisweet chocolate -- chopped
10 tablespoons unsalted butter
2 tablespoons Grand Marnier
1 tablespoon brandy
1 tablespoon instant espresso powder
6 large egg yolks -- room temp
3/4 cup sugar
1 cup heavy cream -- whipped, lightly sweetened Grand Marnier OR vanilla flavoring for the whipped cream
1. Preheat oven to 350. Butter & flour a 9-inch springform pan. Be sure you know exactly what size your springform is - if it's 9 1/2 inches, cake will bake in less time. Narrower, will take longer. Stir chocolate and butter in a heavy large saucepan over low heat until melted and smooth. Alternately, melt slowly in Microwave.
2. Remove chocolate from heat and whisk in Grand Marnier, brandy and espresso. Cool to room temperature.
3. Beat eggs and sugar with mixer until tripled in volume, about 5 minutes. Fold 1/4 of beaten eggs into cooled chocolate to lighten, then fold chocolate into remaining egg mixture. Transfer batter to prepared pan.
4. How long to bake this cake is critical. Overbaking will produce a dry, crumbly cake. NOT what you want. So, bake cake until tester inserted into center comes out with moist (not wet, but moist) crumbs still attached, about 45 minutes. Start testing the cake at 40 minutes and increase by 2-3 minute increments until it reaches the right crumb. Cool cake in pan on a rack. Cake will sink as it cools. When hot out of the oven, run knife around outside edge of pan to loosen cake. Once cool, release pan sides and transfer cake to a platter. Cake can be made to this point one day ahead. Cover and let stand at room temperature. Cut cake into wedges and serve with whipped cream. Garnish with fresh raspberries, if desired.
Serving Ideas: If you have leftovers, refrigerate them after one day, but allow it to come back to room temp before serving.
Per Serving (for 10 servings): 508 Calories; 37g Fat (62.4% calories from fat); 4g Protein; 46g Carbohydrate; 0g Dietary Fiber; 191mg Cholesterol; 20mg Sodium. Exchanges: 0 Lean Meat; 0 Non-Fat Milk; 7 Fat; 3 Other Carbohydrates.

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Lemon Sponge Pudding and the joys of shopping in England

Warm lemon sponge pudding with a bit of heavy cream poured over.


Lemon sponge pudding hot out of the oven.

As probably with many of you, recipes come your way from so many different places. From people you've met along the paths of life (as in this case), or from a magazine at the doctor's office, the grocery store even. And from friends and relatives, of course.

DH and I were fortunate to meet some very dear people, Rita and Roy, many years ago. They're related to some friends of friends. They're from England, but come to the U.S. with some frequency to visit. DH and I were invited to their home in England (actually three different homes over the years) to use as a base for traveling in the area. They always made us so welcome, and we were very grateful for the hospitality.

One year, probably 10 years or so ago, my friend Cherrie and I decided to take a trip to England together. She'd never been, and since I had some experience driving on the left side of the road, we rented a car at Heathrow and set out on our journey. It's through Cherrie that we knew Rita and Roy, and they'd kindly offered to let us stay in their home in Reading (pronounced red-ding). Every time I get behind the wheel in a right-hand drive car I have to familiarize myself with the mysteries of relearning some but not all of my driving motions. The gear shift is on the left, but the gas pedal is still on the right side. Most cars are stick shift in Europe. Not many people have taken to automatic. That part was fine with me, but it does take a bit more concentration. The turn signal is still on the left side of the steering column, but you have to remember to look at the rear view mirror on the left (inside the car), and the outside mirror on the right. All very confusing. You do get used to it, but the first few days can be very frustrating and stressful until you get into the swing of it.

When DH and I travel, he usually drives, and the first few days the passenger is responsible for navigation AND coaching the driver. As when approaching an intersection, reminding the driver to turn right, but keep in the left lane once you make the turn. Like turn left ahead, but keep left. Or when entering a roundabout, a reminder that we don't have right of way. So Cherrie was my navigator and scout. She took on the role well through the whole trip. Only once did I come out of a parking lot where we'd been shopping, shopping, and I got into the right side of the road. Fortunately nobody was coming. She was johnny-on-the-spot to correct my error. We had a wonderful time on this trip, driving all over.

Rita's sister Sandy lives here in the U.S., and Sandy had always told Cherrie that there wasn't "a thing" to buy in England. So Cherrie went on that trip with nary any space in her suitcase for anything to buy. Hmmm, I thought. The second day we drove to Salisbury. We had fish and chips at a local stand-up bar. They were absolutely delicious. Since it had taken us a couple of hours to get to Salisbury, we couldn't dilly dally, as I wanted to get back to Reading before dark. It was winter when we were there, so there were shorter daylight hours. But, I wanted Cherrie to see the Cathedral in Salisbury, which is so magnificent. She enjoys English history just like I do, so we found a carpark (a pay parking lot) and headed off toward the Cathedral. There was a wide walking street from the carpark to the Cathedral, with solid stores left and right. We walked about 30 feet onto this walking street and passed a window of Boots, the well-known "chemist" (drug store) that is all over the United Kingdom. I paused at the window to look at some cute coffee mugs. Some of the Boots stores carry some lovely gifts and pottery things. Cherrie looked over and immediately was looking closely at the window display too. We went inside. Well, what can I tell you other than we never made it to the Cathedral. Cherrie laughed and roared. What in the world did [her friend] Sandy mean there wasn't any to buy in England? Ha! The dollar was worth a whole lot more then, so exchanging dollars for pounds bought us more value than today. We bought things. We shopped. And we shopped some more.

As time went on, on this trip, Cherrie was filling up the boot (the trunk) of the car with her purchases. There were bags and bags and a couple of boxes in there. Because we were staying with friends, she hadn't had to figure out what she would do with all this stuff because it just lived in the car. Eventually we headed off on our own, driving many directions, including to London too. Cherrie had to fit things in her suitcase. Oh, there was trouble in River City. She stuffed. She pried. She pushed and pulled. She found room for a lot of things. She tossed out some things too. As we approached the last few days of our trip Cherrie was still buying. She still kids me to this day about my remark, but I said to her, Cherrie, if that doesn't fit in your purse, you can't buy it. She bought a second small bag of some sort (a carry-on), which was mighty full when we got to Heathrow to fly home. But she managed. How, I don't know, but she did. She was big-time motivated!

So, I need to get back to this wonderful pudding. This is Rita's recipe. It was actually Cherrie's and my second trip to England that Rita had this in the refrigerator waiting for us when we arrived. We got there late on that trip. She had a couple of plates of food saved for us too, which hit the spot. Then she pointed to the dessert and said help ourselves when we were ready. Cherrie and I were jet lagged and way off-schedule. Rita went off to bed and we had a couple cups of lovely tea to calm down. Finally, we scooped out a serving of this lemon sponge and poured on some light cream (like half and half) on top. Oh yes, was it good. I'm a huge lemon fan anyway, so this hit the spot, as it has every time I've made it since.

If you're not familiar with sponge pudding or pudding cake, it's kind of a cross between lemon curd, lemon pudding, and a sponge cake. You don't make separate batters - the preparation and baking process makes layers - a lemony pudding layer and a very light spongy cake layer. So, you get two desserts in one. I used Meyer lemons in mine, so cut down just a little bit on the sugar.

Thank you, Rita, for sharing the recipe.

Lemon Sponge Pudding
Recipe: from our friend, Rita A., from England
Servings: 6 or 7
2 ounces butter -- or margarine
4 ounces sugar [I use half Splenda]
2 whole lemons -- juice and grated rind
2 whole eggs -- separated
1 cup milk
2 ounces self-rising flour
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Cream butter (or margarine) and sugar with grated lemon zest until mixture is pale and fluffy. Add egg yolks and beat well. Stir in half of the milk, then the flour. Pour in remaining milk and lemon juice.
3. Whisk egg whites until firm and then fold into the egg mixture.
4. Pour into a greased (buttered) 2 pint glass or ceramic baking dish. Place in a large roasting pan half filled with hot water.
5. Bake in center of oven for 35-40 minutes until golden brown and firm to the touch. Serve hot or warm with ice cream or heavy cream drizzled over.
Per Serving: 226 Calories; 11g Fat (41.3% calories from fat); 5g Protein; 30g Carbohydrate; 1g Dietary Fiber; 97mg Cholesterol; 242mg Sodium. Exchanges: 1/2 Grain(Starch); 1/2 Lean Meat; 0 Fruit; 0 Non-Fat Milk; 2 Fat. Printer friendly recipe.

Triple Chocolate Torte with Raspberries

Kind of like lava. Thick gooey deliciousness. There's nothing in this not to like - chocolate, white chocolate, raspberries, and whipped cream. This would make a perfect ending to a Valentine's Day dinner.

If you happen to want to make something very chocolatety and very rich, this is your ticket to nirvana. I was surprised that it didn't keep me awake the other night with the caffeine, although it's only got 8 ounces of chocolate (dark stuff) in the whole torte, so that must be why.

Credit goes to Phillis Carey, from a cooking class I took. Over the years of taking classes from her, she's made some really wonderful desserts, and some really good chocolate ones at that. So here's another to add to the stable of chocolate yumminess.

Really, this is a fairly simple dessert to make. You do have to prepare the pan (springform) and line it with parchment. And you'll mess up a few bowls getting all the different batters made, but all combine into one in the end, and you pour it into the springform and bake. It's served with the frozen raspberries in syrup (from the grocery store), thawed, of course, and a nice mound of whipped cream.

Knowing when the torte is DONE is a bit tricky here. This one pictured, is probably a tad under-done - the center of it was too lava like. But it worked and tasted just fine. At about the 35 minute mark, you insert a pick into the center, and you do not want all sticky stuff. In fact, when this one was removed, there was just a tiny, tiny bit of goo, and just a few crumbs attached to the pick. And yet, it was still a bit underdone. Keep testing the torte every 3-4 minutes thereafter until it's done to your liking.

Cook's Notes: Phillis told us to buy white chocolate chips from Trader Joe's because they do contain cocoa butter. Most white chocolate does not. Those other brands will work, but the cocoa butter ones are better. She also cautioned us to NOT chunk up a white chocolate bar for this because it will just melt into the batter and you won't SEE the white chocolate at all (you can see the chips in the photo). That's not what you want here. White chocolate chips contain something (is it wax?) to keep them from melting, like regular chocolate chips. And lastly, do not eliminate the whipped cream because this dessert is really, really rich, and you need the cream to cut down that solid richness. Also, Phillis' recipe contained 2 full cups of sugar. I thought it was too, too sweet, so reduced the sugar by 1/4 cup in both instances (you add the sugar to two different batters as it's made). You can use your own judgment.

Triple Chocolate Torte with Raspberry Sauce
Recipe By: Phillis Carey, cookbook author & instructor

Serving Size : 12 [maybe even 16-18]
1 cup unsalted butter
4 ounces unsweetened chocolate -- chopped
4 ounces semisweet chocolate -- chopped
3/4 cup sugar [reduced from 1 cup]
1 teaspoon vanilla
4 large eggs
3/4 cup sugar [also reduced from 1 cup]
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 cups white chocolate chips -- Trader Joe's if possible
10 ounces frozen raspberries -- in syrup, thawed
1 cup heavy cream
2 tablespoons powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
1. Preheat oven to 350. Butter a 9-inch or 10-inch (preferred) springform pan and line bottom with a circle of parchment paper.
2. Combine butter and both chocolates in a medium saucepan. Stir over low heat until melted and smooth. Remove from heat. Add 3/4 cup sugar and stir until sugar dissolves, about 1 minute. Stir in vanilla. Set aside and allow to cool for about 5 minutes.
3. In a large bowl whisk together eggs and 3/4 cup sugar. Whisk HALF of this egg mixture into the chocolate mixture.
4. Using a mixer, beat remaining egg mixture until pale yellow and slightly thickened, about 3 minutes. Gently fold chocolate mixture and salt into the egg mixture. Then, gently fold in flour, then the white chocolate chips. Spoon batter into prepared springform pan.
5. Bake torte until tester inserted in center of cake comes out with just a bit of gooey mixture, but with mostly crumbs, about 40 minutes. Do not overbake. Cool completely on a rack. Will keep at room temperature, covered, for up to 24 hours.
6. Prepare whipped cream: combine heavy cream, powdered sugar and vanilla and whip until peaks form.
7. To serve, cut into wedges and set on plates. Spoon raspberries and syrup over torte allowing juices to run over the sides. Top with a dollop of sweetened whipped cream.
Per Serving: 646 Calories; 40g Fat (55.1% calories from fat); 8g Protein; 66g Carbohydrate; 3g Dietary Fiber; 139mg Cholesterol; 165mg Sodium. Exchanges: 1 Grain(Starch); 1/2 Lean Meat; 0 Non-Fat Milk; 7 1/2 Fat; 3 1/2 Other Carbohydrates.
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Gingerbread Pudding Cake

When I tell you you absolutely MUST make this, I'm not kidding. It's simple. Really simple. And oh-so-very delicious. It probably looks like a pile of gooey something with whipped cream. Well, it is, sort of. I've enjoyed pudding cakes for years, and was surprised at the cooking class that was held at my house yesterday, that lots of people don't know about pudding cake. They'd never heard of it. Never seen it. I've made both chocolate and lemon pudding cake, but never gingerbread.

Pudding Cakes are different. Obviously, they're not quite a true cake, or a true pudding either. They kind of defy explanation. Online I didn't even find a very good definition about pudding cake. I went to my usual source, Harold McGee's On Food and Cooking, a fascinating tome about the chemistry of cooking. This is the first time I've struck out, not finding an explanation in his book. And, as I said, nothing online either. Nor in my cooking encyclopedia, nor Martha's Baking Handbook. Not even Dorie Greenspan. So, you'll just have to settle for my homespun explanation.

A pudding cake starts off with a cake batter. It's placed in a high sided ovenproof dish, then you pour boiling water (sometimes with butter added in this case) over the top. In the baking process, the cake part becomes a layer that kind of floats on top, and the hot water mingles with some of the batter and makes a pourable pudding underneath. You serve it warm to hot. Once it cools, the pudding part that made a nice puddle on the plate when you served it (as in the picture at top), becomes a thicker pudding. Which is why you want to serve it warm. The whole thing is some kind of chemical magic.

Probably the most common pudding cake is lemon. Southerners here in the U.S. think they own lemon pudding cake, I think. It's a regular staple in the Southern diet. When I searched online I found several recipes with Southern roots. The one I've always made came from a friend in England. So maybe its origins are English. I simply don't know. Maybe somebody who reads my blog will know! Or will have some kind of cooking encyclopedia with an explanation.

Anyway, the teacher, Tarla Fallgatter, used my home for the cooking class for this month. The hostess gets to choose the theme, and I opted for soups and chowders. And she always makes a dessert too. Tarla had mentioned that she'd made this dessert at several classes recently and it was met with lots of raves. Mine are now added to it.

Cook's Notes: Tarla cautioned us that you don't want to overbake the cake. But it can't be underdone, either, or it will be gummy. So I've included a photo of the top of the cake when she removed it from the oven (below). It had large cracks in the cake, but when you jiggled the baking dish, the cake was one solid piece and cooked through (no soft or slushy part in the middle, which was the last part to cook), and the cake did move slightly in the dish. If you aren't fond of all the gingerbread spices, you can halve them. Tarla had doubled them because she likes the spicier version. I did too.

Gingerbread Pudding Cake
Recipe: Tarla Fallgatter, cooking instructor
Serving Sizes: 8
CAKE BATTER:
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons ground ginger
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon ground allspice
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 ounces unsalted butter -- room temperature
1/4 cup sugar
1 large egg
1/2 cup molasses -- mild
1/2 cup water
3/4 cup brown sugar -- packed
WATER MIXTURE TO POUR ON TOP:
1 1/2 cups hot water
5 tablespoons butter -- melted
TOPPING:
1 cup heavy cream -- whipped, with sugar and vanilla to taste
1. Preheat oven to 350. Butter an 8x8x2 glass baking dish, or other high sided casserole dish of similar size.
2. Mix dry ingredients together. Beat butter and sugar in a food processor, then add egg. Add molasses and 1/2 cup water ad pulse in. Pulse in dry ingredients just to blend. Transfer mixture to the buttered baking dish and sprinkle top with brown sugar.
3. Melt the 5 T. butter in a saucepan and add the 1 1/2 cups hot water and bring to a boil. Cool just slightly. Carefully pour this mixture over the cake batter.
4. Bake until the gingerbread is cracked on top and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, about 45 minutes. Do NOT overbake. Allow to cool for 15-20 minutes, then scoop warm pudding cake, with the sauce it makes, into shallow bowls and serve with whipped cream.
Per Serving: 431 Calories; 25g Fat (51.0% calories from fat); 4g Protein; 50g Carbohydrate; 1g Dietary Fiber; 102mg Cholesterol; 294mg Sodium. Exchanges: 1 Grain(Starch); 0 Lean Meat; 0 Non-Fat Milk; 5 Fat; 2 Other Carbohydrates.

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Ina Garten's Lemon Cake

At our brunch on Saturday, my friend Joan L. brought the most delicious, flavorful, lemony cake imaginable. Come to find out it's Ina Garten's recipe. From her cookbook, Barefoot Contessa Parties! (which I don't have), but the internet, being the internet, I found dozens of copies of it on multiple websites. Lots of other food bloggers have done a write-up about this, but my copy came from Oprah, when she had Ina Garten on her show some while back.

It uses the zest from 6-8 lemons plus a LOT of fresh squeezed lemon juice. Not only in the cake, but in the syrup and the frosting. No wonder it's lemony flavored. And it has the lightest texture. Most likely from the addition of buttermilk. These are made in loaf pans, then you dribble a lemony syrup all over the cakes that sinks in, and once completely cooled you drizzle it with a white icing.

No question, this is a great cake. If you're blessed with a lemon tree, this is a must-bake for you. Our Meyer lemon tree doesn't have ripe lemons yet. I have juice in the freezer, but not any zest. And have you seen the price of lemons, even here in Southern California? I think I paid 89 cents apiece for them. Joan, thank you for bringing this wonderful cake!

Ina Garten's Lemon Cake
Recipe: Barefoot Contessa Parties!
Serving Size : 16
1/2 pound unsalted butter
2 1/2 cups granulated sugar
4 whole extra large eggs -- (at room temperature)
1/3 cup lemon zest -- (6 to 8 large lemons)
3 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon kosher salt
3/4 cup lemon juice -- freshly squeezed
3/4 cup buttermilk -- at room temperature
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cups powdered sugar
3 1/2 tablespoons lemon juice -- freshly squeezed
1. Preheat the oven to 350ºF. Grease two 8 ½ x 4 ½ x 2 ½ -inch loaf pans. Cream the butter and 2 cups granulated sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment for about 5 minutes or until light and fluffy. With the mixer on medium speed, add the eggs, one at a time, and the lemon zest.
2. Sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a bowl. In another bowl, combine ¼ cup lemon juice, the buttermilk and vanilla. Add the flour and buttermilk mixtures alternately to the batter, beginning and ending with the flour. Divide the batter evenly between the pans, smooth the tops, and bake for 45 minutes to an hour, until a cake tester comes out clean.
3. Combine ½ cup granulated sugar with ½ cup lemon juice in a small saucepan and cook over low heat until the sugar dissolves and makes a syrup. When the cakes are done, let them cool for 10 minutes, then invert them onto a rack set over a tray, and spoon the lemon syrup over the cakes. Allow the cakes to cool completely.
4. For the glaze, combine the confectioners' sugar and lemon juice in a bowl, mixing with a wire whisk until smooth. Pour over the top of the cakes and allow the glaze to drizzle down the sides.

Per Serving: 416 Calories; 14g Fat (29.7% calories from fat); 5g Protein; 69g Carbohydrate; 1g Dietary Fiber; 94mg Cholesterol; 259mg Sodium. Exchanges: 1 1/2 Grain(Starch); 0 Lean Meat; 0 Fruit; 2 1/2 Fat; 3 Other Carbohydrates.

To print a PDF recipe, click title at top.

A Pumpkin Cake for a birthday

Yesterday was the birthday of one of my DH's friends, Wayne. The "boys" came to our house for Bible study, so DH had asked me to make something special for Wayne. Not a coffee cake, like usual, since they meet at 7:00 am every Thursday. He wanted something that would stand in for a traditional birthday cake.

It just so happened that I used a gift certificate I had from Williams-Sonoma a week or so ago and ordered a pumpkin cake mold. It's just so darned CUTE! The mold comes with a recipe. Good thing, since I wasn't sure what volume of cake would fill the mold to the correct height.

If you haven't already noticed, I don't go in for the frou-frou desserts. I rarely make a layer cake or frosting, etc. 9x13 pans are usually just fine for me. I'm more into the taste rather than the appearance. Some bakers prefer the latter. Go for it, I say. So it's a bit unusual for me to do something like this cake mold. But it wasn't all that hard. The cake recipe was wonderful, I must say. Lots of fragrant fall spices: cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, ginger, etc. And very moist, which I like. The standout in this recipe is the crystallized ginger. I'm a fan of ginger, period. But chrystallized just adds a wonderful zing to baked goods. There was a chunk of it left on the cake plate this morning. It went immediately into my mouth. Yum.

Certainly this mold will be a seasonal item for William-Sonoma, so if you're interested you might want to check it out soon. It's only available for internet ordering here. $32.00 plus shipping, of course. Here's what the mold looks like (right). It's hard metal, in case you thought it was silicone.

Once the cakes are baked, they sit in the molds for 15 minutes, then you remove them to cool for awhile. Here's a photo of the two halves. What's interesting is you slice off the tops (because they're rounded) so the two halves both have a flat side. Then you flop them together and voila, you have a standing pumpkin. I made a frosting (cream cheese type) and mounded it on the top half, and put some in the middle (between the two halves) also to hold the two halves together.

Pumpkin Cake

Recipe: (Willliams-Sonoma)
Servings: 14
CAKE:
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 1/4 teaspoons salt
2 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 1/4 teaspoons ground ginger
3/4 teaspoon nutmeg -- freshly ground
1/2 teaspoon ground allspice
1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
10 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 1/4 cups light brown sugar -- packed
1 1/4 cups granulated sugar
3 large eggs
2/3 cup milk
1 1/4 cups pumpkin puree
2/3 cup walnuts -- toasted, chopped
1/2 cup crystallized ginger -- diced
FROSTING:
8 ounces cream cheese -- room temperature
8 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 cup powdered sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 tablespoon pumpkin puree -- (optional)
Food coloring, if desired
1. Have all ingredients at room temperature.
2. Position a rack in the lower third of an oven and preheat to 325. Generously grease and flour the Williams-Sonoma pumpkin pan (or two bread pans). Tap out any excess flour.
3. Over a sheet of waxed paper sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, allspice and cloves. Set aside.
4. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the flat beater, beat the butter on medium speed until creamy and smooth, about 1-2 minutes. Add the brown and granulated sugars and beat until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes, stopping the mixer 2-3 times to scrape down the sides. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition.
5. Reduce the speed to low and add the flour mixture in three additions, alternating with the milk and beginning and ending with the flour. Beat each addition until just incorporated, stopping the mixer occasionally to scrape down the sides. Add the pumpkin puree and beat until incorporated. Remove the bowl from the mixer. Using a rubber spatula, fold in the walnuts and candied ginger until incorporated.
6. Divide the batter between the wells of the prepared pan and spread it evenly. Bake until a toothpick inserted near the center of one cake comes out clean, about 1 hour and 15 minutes. (If using bread pans, test the pans at about 45-50 minutes.) Transfer the pan(s) to a wire rack and let the cake halves cool upright in the pan for 15 minutes.
7. Gently tap the pan on a work surface to loosen the cake halves. Invert the pans onto a wire rack and lift off the pan. Let the cake halves cool completely before decorating.
8. Frosting: in the bowl of an electric mixer beat the cream cheese on medium speed until smooth, 2-3 minutes. Add the butter and beat until combined, 1-2 minutes. Add the powdered sugar and vanilla and beat until fluffy, 2-3 minutes. Divide the frosting into two bowls and add the pumpkin puree to one of them.
9. Using a sharp, serrated bread knife, gently slice off the rounded tops (about 1/4 inch) of each cake half, so you have a completely flat side. Spread the pumpkin frosting on one half and gently place the top on the bottom cake, lining up the ribs as best you can. Refrigerate for 30 minutes. Frost the top of the pumpkin with the cream cheese frosting (or use it with food coloring to make fancy cut-outs. pumpkin faces or leaves and tendrils). Refrigerate until ready to serve.
Per Serving (excluding unknown items): 510 Calories; 26g Fat (44.2% calories from fat); 7g Protein; 66g Carbohydrate; 2g Dietary Fiber; 105mg Cholesterol; 386mg Sodium. Exchanges: 1 Grain(Starch); 1/2 Lean Meat; 1/2 Vegetable; 0 Non-Fat Milk; 4 1/2 Fat; 3 Other Carbohydrates. To view a PDF Recipe, click title at top.

Anise Pound Cake

What? Pound cake and anise? Well, yes. And you need to know that I don't like licorice. As in licorice candy. Not even one bit. But I like fennel. Which is akin to the anise plant. And I like fennel seed, in moderation, in a few things, like cooked cabbage. And I really like this cake, made with toasted anise seed. Fennel and anise are different plants altogether, although they're related, like first cousins. They both have licorice overtones; I think the anise has more of it than the fennel.

Probably I mentioned in a previous post that in the late 1980's I was quite enamored with the cooking of Mark Miller (Coyote Cafe, Santa Fe, New Mexico). He was the first, or one of the first, to introduce "fine cuisine" to the Southwestern food genre. And he was kind of all-over the foodie scene. When I visited the restaurant (in the 80's) I bought his cookbook, Coyote Cafe. What I found, though, was that most of his dishes are very labor intensive, requiring a sauce for this, a finishing glaze for that, a different marinade, or that most of his dishes needed one or two complicated sides. Everything is made from scratch too, including beans. After making several things, I closed the book and put it on my cookbook shelf, to be opened rarely. But in that interim, I needed a cake for a Southwestern gourmet picnic, and this one fit the bill.

I've made this many, many times. It's a fairly standard pound cake mixture, and the only unusual thing is the toasted anise seed, subsequently ground finely, which is added to the batter. Because it's toasted seed, it's mellows out considerably. There's no harsh licorice flavor, just a little background nuttiness to it. There's a lot of anise seed in it - four tablespoons - but somehow it doesn't seem like anywhere near that much. It peppers the batter, though, so you know it's something different.

A few years ago I altered the recipe - it called for 1 full pound of butter. Somehow that seemed obscene to me to use that much in one cake, even though it served approximately 18 people. The batter is very heavy besides. So, even though I'm not much of an experimenter when it comes to baking (there's too much science attached), I put in much, much less butter, and I separated the eggs to lighten the batter.
Serve this with some fresh summer fruit - either peaches, apricots, or berries. My favorite is strawberries, sliced thinly. And top with either whipped cream or vanilla ice cream.

Anise Pound Cake
Recipe: adapted from the Coyote Cafe cookbook (Mark Miller)
Servings: 18
3 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
14 ounces unsalted butter
2 cups sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon vanilla
4 tablespoons anise seed -- roasted, ground
5 whole eggs -- separated
2/3 cup sour cream
1. Preheat oven to 350°. Grease and flour a 10-inch tube pan. Sift together flour and salt, then set aside.
2. Cream the butter with sugar, vanilla and anise seed until light. Whip the egg whites and set aside. Add the egg yolks, one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Then add dry ingredients alternately with the sour cream. Scrape the bowl well and mix until blended. Then fold in the egg whites until mixed in and there are only a few streaks of white visible. (This is a bit difficult because the batter is thick.)
3. Pour into prepared pan and bake for approximately 50-60 minutes, until the cake is golden brown and springs back to the touch.
4. Serve in small slices with fresh, sliced summer fruit (peaches, strawberries, other berries) and whipped cream or vanilla ice cream on top.
NOTES : This has been adapted slightly from the original - I use less butter, add some baking powder and separate the eggs.
Per Serving (excluding unknown items): 365 Calories; 21g Fat (52.2% calories from fat); 5g Protein; 40g Carbohydrate; 1g Dietary Fiber; 111mg Cholesterol; 138mg Sodium. Exchanges: 1 Grain(Starch); 0 Lean Meat; 0 Non-Fat Milk; 4 Fat; 1 1/2 Other Carbohydrates.
To print a PDF recipe only, click title at top.